Kendrick has Panthers off to perfect start

Former Horton Griffins coach Tim Kendrick has the UPEI Panthers at 6-0 in his first season at the helm. (MIKE NEEDHAM / UPEI PHOTOGRAPHY)

Tim Kendrick is doing just fine for a rookie.

The longtime Horton Griffins head basketball coach has the UPEI Panthers on top of the AUS heap at 6-0 with the team heading into the holiday break.

Kendrick, a Wolfville native, is a rookie in name only. All he did was win 707 games over 22 years with the Griffins.

In 2008, his team set an unofficial Canadian record with 73 straight wins. He also coached Nova Scotia to a silver medal in the 2009 Canada Games in Summerside.

When son Jake graduated from Horton last year, the 49-year-old Kendrick decided to pursue a new challenge.

He tossed his name in for the UPEI job when Matthew Davies resigned in June citing personal reasons. He got the job in July.

"It was tough," Kendrick said Monday. "When you do something different there is always some second guessing. But the situation was very good here. In a lot of ways I saw it a lot like Horton, or the provincial teams.

"UPEI is a smaller place. The facilities were great and they had a good team in place as long as I could get everybody back. Everything was pointing to some good things right away. I really did want to get to this level … and if I was going to do it, this was the time."

The team started the regular season with two home wins versus Saint Mary’s, swept a pair at Memorial and won twice at home against Acadia on the weekend.

Kendrick’s win total this season almost matches the output from last year when the team went 7-13 and missed the playoffs. They were 4-16 the year before.

The job has prompted a few changes in his personal life.

He’s living in a duplex with his assistant coaches while his wife Mary, a school teacher, remains in New Minas. He’s hoping to have her relocated to P.E.I. for next year.

He said the adjustment to the university level wasn’t that tough. He has some experience with older players, having spent time with a pro team in Australia, the Memphis Tigers and at some U.S. junior college camps.

He said general acceptance on and off campus hasn’t been a problem.

"The community has been wonderful," he said. "I can’t impress upon you enough how well people have treated me here. That’s been big for me personally. One good thing for me coming over was that even though I was a high school coach the record was pretty good. The stuff with the Canada Games team, that got a lot of attention here and home. So I think that benefitted me for sure."

He said he’s been trying to build a positive, winning culture. He said his players are more responsible for the team’s success than he is.

"They show up every day to work as hard as they can," he said. "We have mandatory study halls in place and we have mandatory strength and conditioning sessions. We’ve never had to speak to anybody about missing those things. We have rules in place now that they aren’t allowed to a miss a class unless they text me first. To their credit they’ve bought in hard and they are really working to fulfil all these expectations."

The team has been lead by Donathan Moss, Jonathan Cooper, Manock Lual and Terrence Brown, all double-digit scorers. Jermaine Duke averages nine points and a team-best 8.5 rebounds.

Two Nova Scotians have helped out with Halifax’s Geoff Doane tossing in 8.2 points per game and Bedford’s Mark Lutley coming off the bench in limited minutes.

Kendrick said he has set high expectations for the team and winning has followed.

"I think they are seeing that together we can do some great things," he said. "I think there was certainly a lot of talent here that maybe wasn’t appreciated that much around the league. I think right now you’re seeing these kids really perform at the level they can perform and more.

"We’ve already talked about having no complacency. Nobody is satisfied here. We want to continue to go forward. We don’t talk about going undefeated. All we’re concentrating on is the Shoveller tournament (at Dalhousie) and the first big test Jan. 7-8 at Saint Mary’s."